Clothes assembling rack



-May 3, 1932. M. J. BUCKLE Y- CLOTHES ASSEMBLING RACK Filed April 1].,1929' V5217 27.5. fidIIf/Leu/ J 8 14044631 Patented May 3, 1932 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE MATTHEW J. BUCKLEY, F MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN CLOTHESASSEMBLING RACK Applicationhfiled April 11, 1929. Serial No. 354,208.

In laundry and similar establishments coniently engaged on the rack butare prevented siderable difficulties have been encountered fromaccidentally sliding off of the same. in the proper handling, assortingand assenr It is also an object of this invention to probling of thedifferent pieces of clothes comvide an improved clothes assembling rackTi prising the washing of a particular customer. with a pivoted one waylatching device per- Heretofore when a bundle of clothes has beenmitting articles to be conveniently engaged received from a customer thebundle is first on a supporting rod but preventing removal opened and anidentifying pin or tag bearing of the articles from said rod until thelatch a particular number or letter is affixed to each mechanism isreleased.

73 piece of goods comprising the particular lot. It is an importantobject of this invention The clothes are then washed and ironed, if toprovide an improved clothes assembling required, after which the variousitems comrack having a latching mechanism associated prising an orderare carried into an assemwith a clothes supporting rod permittingarbling room to be placed on assembling rods ticles to be convenientlyengaged on the rod or racks according to the identifying number butpreventing the articles from being reon the identifying pin or tagcarried by the moved from the rod except upon release of particularpiece of goods. All of the articles the latch mechanism. bearing similarnumbers or identifying Other and further important objects of marks arethen placed upon a selected supthis invention will be apparent from thedi m porting rod, a number of which are arranged closures in thespecification and the accomin a horizontal row upon a suitable support.panying drawings.

The diiliculty with this arrangement has been This invention (in apreferred form) is i ltound in the tendency of the horizontalsuplustrated in the drawings and hereinafter porting bars or rods togradually sag or inmore fully described.

'* cline due to the weight of the goods repeated- On the drawings: lyhung thereon so that the articles are apt to Figure l is a sideelevation of an improved slide off of the racks or rods and drop uponclothes assembling rack and latch mechanism the floor, thereby causingconfusion and illustrating the release position of the latch mixing ofthe different pieces or goods from in dotted lines.

different consignments. Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional Toobviate the above diificulties in the asview of the rack mechanism takenon line sembling of the goods belonging to a particu- IIII of Figure 1.lar order or consignment this invention has Figure 8 is a sectional viewsimilar to that been devised for providing a latching mechaillustratedin Figure 2 but covering a modinism adapted to be associated with thesuplied form of latching mechanism for associaporting rod or bracket forassembling goods tion with a clothes assembling rack. in laundries andsimilar establishments to af- Figure t is a reduced side elevation ofthe ford an arrangement whereby selected artimodified form of latchmechanism illustrated M cles may be readily engaged upon a supportinFigure 3 with portions of the bracket rods ing rack and are preventedfrom accidentalbroken away.

1y sliding ofi or being removed from the rack Figure 5 is a sideelevation of another modhy the improved latch mechanism positioned ifiedform of clothes assembling rack illusto coact with the supporting rackand contrating the release position of the latch mechvenientlypositioned to be moved into release anism in dotted lines.

position to permit articles to be conveniently As shown on the drawings:

and easily engaged upon the rack. The reference numeral 1 indicates asup- It is an object of this invention to provide porting bar or beamwhich is usually posian improved clothes assembling rack for use tionedhorizontally at a convenient height in laundries and similarestablishments and from the floor upon the wall of a clothes assoconstructed that articles may be convensembling room of a laundry orsimilar estabm0 lishment. The improved clothes assembling rack of thisinvention is adapted to be supported upon the supporting beam 1 and inthe device illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 com prises an inverted T-blockconsisting of a supporting flange or base plate 2 and a central upwardlyprojecting web block or rib 3 which is integrally formed upon the top ofthe base plate 2. The base plate 2 is provided with suitable aperturesfor the reception of retaining screws l which are adapted to be threadedinto the supporting beam 1 to hold the supporting block rigidly sccuredin position. The frontend of the upright web block 3 is provided withtwo parallel openings positioned one above the other for the receptionof a lower clothes support ing rod or rack bar 5, one end of which isrigidly secured in the lower opening of the web block 3. The outer endof the rod 5 is tapered at 6 to facilitate engagement of clothesidentifying pins 7 thereon. Rigidly secured in the upper opening of theweb block 3 is the inner end of an upper rod or bar 8 which is parallelto the clothes supporting rod 5 and is slightly shorter than said rod.The upper rod 8 affords a suita le support for the one way latchmechanism which is used in coacting relation with the clothes supportingrod 5. The latch mechanism comprises a sleeve or socket 9 pr yided withan integral internally threaded boss or arm 10 in which a set screw 11is adjustably engaged to be moved into locking contact with the upperbracket rod 8 to rigidly hold the sleeve 9 secured in position. Theouter end of the sleeve 9 is closed by means of a closure plate 12 whichalso serves as a stop plate and integrally formed on the lower marginthere of an outwardly projecting rib or flange 13. Engaged through theflange 13 is a pin let on the projecting ends of which a slotted lat-chmember is pivotally engaged.

The pivoted latch comprises a pair of legs or arms 15, the upper ends ofwhich integrally connected by means of a head plate 16. The parallelarms 15 of the latch memher are positioned on opposite sides of theclothes supporting rod 5 and are heavier than the head plate 16 so thatthe latch member will automatically be actuated by gravity to swing intoa substantially vertical position with the head plate 16 in contact witha stop plate 12 on the outer end of the supporting sleeve 9 asillustrated in full lines in Figure 1 of the drawings.

The latch member is adapted to be moved into the dotted line position ofFigure 1 by simply engaging the head plate 16 and swinging the sameoutwardly thereby causing the arms 15 to swing upwardly into the dottedline position of Figure 1, thereby permitting an identification pin 7 tobe slidably engaged on the supporting rod 5. When the head plate 16 ofthe latch member is released the latch member automatically swings backinto vertical closed position thereby preventing the identification pinand the article engaged thereon from accidentally sliding off of thesupporting rod 5 even if the same becomes bent or inclined out of ahorizontal position. It will thus be noted that the improved clothesassembling rack affords an arrangement whereby a plurality ofidentification pins or hangers may be conveniently engaged on a selectedsupporting rod 5 and that after the identification pins and the clothessupported thereby are engaged on the rod said pins and the clothes areprevented from accidentally sliding off due to the improved pivotedlatch which is supported on the outer end of the upper rod 8 in coactingrelation with the clothes supporting rod 5.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate a modified form of latching mechanism forassociation with a clothes assembling rack of the type hereinbeforedescribed and said modified forms of latching mechanism comprises asleeve or collar 17 which is rigidly secured on the outer end of anupper rod 8 by means of a set screw 18 or other suitable means.Integrally formed on the outer end of the sleeve 17 is a stop plate 19having a pair of spaced stop notches 20 formed in the top margin of thestop plate. Supported transversely through the upper portion of thesleeve 17 to the inside of the stop plate 19 is a pin 21. Pivotallyengaged on the projecting ends of the pin 21 is a latch membercomprising a pair of parallel arms 22 which are adapted to seat in thestop notches 20 when the latch member is tilted to limit the upwardswing thereof. The two latch arms 22 areconnected by a cross piece 23below the supporting rod 8. The lower portion of the latch member isbent inwardly at an angle to form a yoke, the arms 24 of which arenormally adapted to be positioned on opposite sides of the clothessupporting rod 5 as clearly illustrated in Figure 3.

The modified form of latching mechanism illustrated in Figures 3 and 4:is adapted to be supported on the outer end of the upper rod 8 ofthelatch mechanism in coacting relation with the lower clothes supportingrod 5 with the yoke member or arms 24 of the latch member straddling therod 5 to normally prevent identification pins 7 or supporting membersfrom accidentally sliding cit of the supporting rod 5. To permit anidentification pin or support 7 to be engaged on the supporting rod 5 itis merely necessary for the operator to engage one of the upwardlyprojecting arms 2201? the latch mechanism to swing the same so that theinclined yoke portion 24 of the latch member is swung upwardly out ofcoacting relation with the supporting rod 5 thereby permitting freeaccess of an identification pin 7 onto the clothes supporting rod 5.When the upper ends of the latch member are released by an operator thelatch member swings by gravity back into its normal latching position toprevent the identification pins on the supporting rod 5 fromaccidentally sliding oif of the same.

Figure 5 illustrates another modified form of clothes assembling rack.In this modification the reference numeral 25 indicates a supporting baror beam having a recess or opening in which one end of a horizontalclothes supporting rod 26 is adapted to be securely engaged. The outerend of the horizontal clothes supporting rod 26 is tapered at 27 tofacilitate the convenient engagement of identification pins or hangerson the supporting rod or bar 26. Secured to the supporting bar or beam25 is a hinge plate 28 on which a second hinge plate 29 is pivotallysupport ed. Integrally formed on the pivoted hinge plate 29 is a socketor collar 30 in which one end of a latch member is rigidly secured. Thelatch member comprises a rod 31. Normally the upper latch rod 31 ispositioned parallel to the clothes supporting rod 26 as illustrated infull lines in Figure 5. The

outer end of the latch rod 31 is bent downwardly and slightly inclinedto form a retaining finger or latch member 32 and has the end thereofnotched to seat or engage over the outer portion of the clothessupporting rod 36 to provide a latch preventing accidental removal ofidentification pins or tags from the clothes supporting rod 26. i i henit is desired to engage an additional identification pin on the rod 26it is only necessary for an operator to swing the latch member 8132 intothe dotted line position of Figure 5 thereby permitting theidentification pin to be slidably engaged on the rod 26. Release of thelatch member 3132 per mite the same to drop by gravity back into thefull line position of Figure 5 thereby preventing removal of theidentification pins or supporting tags from the clothes supporting rod.

It will thus be noted that the three differ-ent forms of latchmechanisms for use in connection with clothes assembling rack rods orthe like are conveniently mounted to coact with the clothes supportingrods permitting the placing of identification pins on the rods butpreventing accidental removal of the identification pins from said rodsunlessthe latch members are swung into released position by an operator.

It will, of course, be understood that many changes may be made andnumerous details of construction may be varied through a wide rangewithout departing from the principles off this invention and it istherefore not purposed limiting the patent granted hereon otherwise thannecessitated by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A clothes assembling rack of the class described comprising asupporting member, a clothes supporting rod rigidly secured therein, anauxiliary rod rigidly secured in said supporting member above andparallel to said clothes supporting rod, a sleeve rigidly secured on theouter end of said auxiliary rod, a stop member forming a part of saidsleeve, and a gravity acting latch member pivotally supported on saidstop member in coacting relation with said clothes supporting rod topermit identification pins to be readily engaged on the clothessupporting rod but preventing accidental removal of said identificationpins from said rod.

2. A clothes assembling rack of the class described comprising asupporting member, a clothes supporting rod rigidly secured therein, anauxiliary rod rigidly secured in said supporting member parallel andabove said clothes supporting rod, a sleeve member removably secured onthe outer end of said auxiliary rod, a stop plate on said sleeve and alatch member pivotally supported on said sleeve in coacting relationwith said stop plate and with said clothes supporting rod to permitidentification pins to be engaged on the clothes supporting rod andpreventing accidental removal of said identification pins from said rod.

3. An assembling rack comprising an article support, a memberthereabove, a removable sleeve thereon, removable means for securingsaid sleeve on said member, a stop on said sleeve, and a latch pivotedon said stop for coaction therewith and with said article support.

4. An assembling rack comprising a pair of supporting members, a stopmeans removably secured on one of said members, and a latch meanspivoted on said stop means with one end positioned to coact with thesecond of said members and the other end positioned for coaction withthe stop means to hold the latch means in a latching position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

MATTHEW J. BUOKLEY.

